Rasputinian Death
Rasputinian Death is a term about the event where a character survived multiple fatal incidents (often while enduring one or more injuries that normally lethal to normal humans in process) before eventually dying. Overview While the term was popularized by TV Tropes, Rasputinian Death trope is actually inspired by repeated assassination attempts on real-life figure , the controversial and polarizing mystic of 20th century Russia before the start of World War I. During such attempts, Rasputin displayed near-superhuman endurance against everything Russian nobles including Prince Felix Yusupov thrown against this false holy man in an effort to remove his growing accursed influence on the late Romanov Family; from meals and beverage laced with enough cyanide to kill multiple men, to multiple fatal gunshots. Though such accounts were outright exaggerated by perpetrators of his murder in spite of the 1916 autopsy report (as discovered after the Cold War and reviewed by American and Russian doctors alike in the year 2002 A.D.), Rasputin's legendary resilience nevertheless became inspiration for the display of superhuman resilience against most severe of punishments in fiction, be it demonstrated by heroes or villains alike. Even with the legend had been debunked, it is pretty much well-known than the truth since Rasputin's alleged superhuman resilience never ceased to amaze the audience. The same legend even contributed in Alan Moore's works where various protagonists in his comic book series displayed similar superhuman resillience in varying degree Any character whose death counts as this usually described to ve preternaturally relentless, unstoppable, or simply figuratively (or literally) "made of iron". This trope is also in turn, further influenced other trope called There Is No Kill Like Overkill where the character in questions are intentionally attacked just to make sure he/she won't recover. In videogames, character who suffer this usually portrayed as a recurring boss. :NOTE: For sake of this wikia, only villains who allowed to be put on the list. Requirements for Rasputinian Death *'Determination': Even without any enhancement (be it magical or technological alike), a character's sheer determination can drive him/her to overcome his/her limits that he/she can shrugs off several punishments. He/she is not necessary have to endure all of the aforementioned punishment, as there are some cases that the character managed to elude some of them before dying. *'Magic/Technological Enhancements': A character's endurance against punishment before dying may influenced by enhancement he/she put on his/her body to attain superhuman durability, be it from magical or technological means. Some cases showed enhancements which endow its recipient an outright near-immortality, but this criteria only apply if the enhanced character able to endure a lot of punishments even if his/her weaknesses are exploited. *'As a Plot Device': The character may not necessarily superhumanly resilient, but those who tried to kill him/her made a poor methods or sloppy in such attempts that they ended up inflicted minor damage as the character sees it coming and prepared for it. Examples Anime and Manga *'Homunculi' (Fullmetal Alchemist): Due to their resilience and number of souls within their respective Philosopher's Stone, subjecting Homunculis into Rasputinian seemed to be the only way to ensure their destruction. *''Naruto'': **'Orochimaru': Thanks to successful experiments he conducted to attain near-immortality and near-invincibility, Orochimaru now capable of endure Rasputinian Death. Yet there are times where he found himself facing death's door such as having an extension of himself that hosted Sasuke through the young Uchiha's curse mark got sealed by Itachi's Susanoo. **'Momochi Zabuza': Bitten by six of Kakashi's dog summons, his arms severely crippled, and stabbed with an armory's worth of weapons when he fatally killed Gato seemed unfaze Zabuza that he still maintain enough strength to dying on his friend Haku's side. **'Kakuzu': Thanks to his kinjutsu, Kakuzu can survive multiple fatal injuries as long as he has spare vital organs (which were fatally stolen from their owners) in his disposal. Interestingly, he was able to survive Naruto's imperfect Ranseshuriken that destroyed his cells which led Kakashi to kill him for real. Animated Films * [[w:c:villains:Rasputin (Don Bluth)|'Rasputin']]: '''Aptly enough. Rasputin 'dies' three times in the movie, and only the last one sticks. (The real Rasputin's death was an aversion of this trope, ironically.) The first time he is stripped to the bone due to his soul trade, but he restores himself with the powers he gains. His second death includes one element from the apocryphal real life story. He falls through some ice, and drowns. The climax when Anastasia smashes his reliquary, Rasputin screams in terror as the demons literally suck his life out him. Then he melts into nasty green ooze and his cloak collapses to the ground. And then his skeleton emerges, shaking in agony while being shocked by green electricity, before reducing to dust, which the wind blows away. Live-Action Films *Vigo: This 17th century Carpathian tyrant before returning from beyond the grave as a demonic ghost centuries later, was poisoned, stabbed, shot, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn and quartered. *Indominus Rex: Indominus Rex's Rasputinian Death at hands of Blue the Velociraptor, her T-Rex ally, and a Mosasaurus showcased the hybrid dinosaur's nature as a bioweapon: Her bodily tissues proved to be resistant to damage inflicted by conventional weapons from a barrage of assault rifles to a hit from rocket launcher. Not even natural weaponry of dinosaurs can inflict a significant injury on her. Had the protagonists not cornered her to Mosasaurus' lagoon, it would've been a hopeless fight *Slattern: Gets slashed repeatedly by Striker Eureka's wrist-mounted blades, including a few to the neck and so many to the shoulders his arms are barely hanging on before getting tricked into charging Striker just as it sets its nuke off. He then gets stabbed again and again by Gipsy Danger, and finally killed by getting his chest cavity fried by Gipsy's nuclear turbine running at full power, to the point it starts coming out of his back. *Terminator: The Terminator's Rasputinian Death at the hands of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese involves it having all of its flesh removed in an explosion, then getting bisected, and then finally getting crushed in a hydraulic press. *The Meg: First, she is eviscerated by Jonas Taylor's submarine ramming into her, then she has a harpoon plunged into one of her eyes deep enough to presumably reach her brain cavity. Then, as the beast bleeds to death, she is eaten alive by hundreds of smaller sharks. *King Ghidorah: An empowered Godzilla kills Ghidorah by blasting him with his Nuclear Pulse over and over, the first incinerating his wings, then his side heads, and then finally his entire body in an explosion that levels a huge radius. This still isn't enough, as his severed center head is still alive, so Godzilla bites down on its neck stump and fires his Atomic Breath point blank until the vile space dragon is nothing but atoms. Gallery '''NOTE: The limit is for 20 pictures only Rasputin.jpg|Rasputin (Don Bluth's Anastasia). Vigo.jpg|Vigo (Ghostbusters II). Category:About Villains Category:Villainous Events Category:Paranormal Category:Magic Category:Elementals Category:Villainous Symbolism